Markets hover around record highs; RIL, SBI up 2%

Strong buying by foreign investors continue to bolster blue chips which lead the rally

Markets continue to trade firm in early noon trades with the benchmark indices hovering close to its all time highs scaled in morning trades today. Strong buying by foreign investors continued to bolster blue chips which lead the rally.

At 1300 hrs, the Sensex was up 120 points at 21,928 and the Nifty gained 39 points to trade at 6,542 levels.

Earlier in the day, Nifty scaled to a record high of 6,574.95 points, surpassing its previous record high hit on March 11. The Sensex hit an all-time high of 22,040.72 points, above its previous record hit on March 10.

The broader markets remained resilient with both the mid and smallcap indices having gained1% each.

IT and Teck indices down 0.2-0.5% were the only indices in the negative territory.

Bankex, Power, Oil & Gas, Metal, Consumer Durables and FMCG indices up 1-2% were the major sectoral gainers.

Auto majors Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Mahindra & Mahindra down 1% each were the major losers among Sensex-30

IT majors TCS, Infosys and Wipro gave off 0.6-0.7%

HDFC, L&T, Hindustan Unilever, Sesa Sterlite and Sun Pharma down 0.1-1% were the only other stocks in red.

Maruti Suzuki up nearly 8% continued to trade close to its record high and was the top gainer.

SBI, ONGC, Coal India, ITC, RIL and Tata Power up 2-3% were the other prominent gainers of the hour.

The market breadth was positive on the BSE. 1424 stocks advanced while 1098 stocks declined.

Asian Markets

Asian shares rose on Tuesday and the yen remained well off recent highs as the threat of immediate military conflict in Ukraine receded, though caution ahead of this week's US Federal Reserve policy meeting kept gains in check.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added about 0.4%.

Japan's Nikkei stock average ended up 0.9%, recovering from a six-week closing low hit on Monday.

Short-covering was likely behind some of Tokyo's gains, as the ratio of short-selling to overall sales in the Tokyo Stock Exchange hit a record high of 36.17% the previous day.